“I’m not sure what I’m doing,” he confessed.

  “Really?” Josh said. “The place is growing on you, isn’t it?”

  He didn’t want to admit that in the past few weeks he could almost see himself living here with a family someday. And maybe that was part of why he said the things he did to Brina. Maybe he was feeling her out when she started the conversation.

  Yes, he was jaded because of his mother and what she’d done, but he wasn’t so stupid to think all women were like that.

  He supposed when he thought of actually settling down at some point in his life it’d have to be one of those eternal loves you only hear about.

  One where he thought he could fully commit and know it’d last.

  He didn’t think he’d be forgiving like his father. Not for something as drastic as his mother did.

  The love had to go both ways. The respect did too.

  He didn’t care if the woman he ended up with was independent. He didn’t care if she wanted to keep her own name. The sperm bank didn’t even bother him.

  What if he couldn’t have his own kids and his wife wanted them someday? He’d be open to anything.

  No, he was an open-minded guy, but he hated liars and cheaters. He hated fake people.

  Brina was none of those things.

  “Remember I told you you’d know the place when you walked in if it felt right?”

  “I do.”

  He’d said that to Josh when he’d started his own house hunt. “I wasn’t sure I felt it when I walked through the first time. But once it was gutted and I saw the potential, I realized this might be the place.”

  Added to the fact everything he wanted to do to it were things he’d want in his own permanent place. He’d never done that with flips before. He always catered to what would sell more than what he liked for himself.

  “Then you should listen to what your gut is telling you. On more than one front,” Josh pointed out.

  “I’ll do that. Now let’s stop talking like a bunch of women and get unloading,” he said when they pulled in the driveway.

  “What are you bringing in the house?” Josh asked.

  “Bedroom furniture to the master. We can do that first, as it’s the only thing that has to go upstairs. We can just toss my clothes on the floor and I’ll hang them up later before I put the bed together. Living room furniture in the front room. I’ll use that for now.”

  “Do you want that table in the dining room? Even though it’s going to look hilarious in there being so small.”

  “Yeah. I need a place to sit now and again to eat if Brina is here.”

  “See, you are already thinking like a guy in a relationship.”

  “I am,” he said. “For once I actually am.”

  “And when we are done moving in, why don’t you and Brina go to dinner with Ruby and me tonight? She’ll be finished around four, which is early for her.”

  “I don’t want to intrude on your date night,” he said.

  “Please. We aren’t even married. Every night is a date night.”

  “You think you’ll lose that once you get married?” he asked.

  “Nah. It’s what you make of it. My grandparents have been married for over sixty years and are still going strong. They have date nights and they did when they raised me. Even my parents had a great marriage that I can remember.” Josh’s parents had been murdered when Josh was a kid and his grandparents raised him.

  “I didn’t get that great of an example of a married couple in my life.”

  “Neither did Ruby. She had cold feet. And hands. And every other part of her body. But I wore her down.”

  Nathan laughed. “I’m surprised you couldn’t wear someone down. You’re one of the most laid back guys I know.”

  “That had nothing to do with it,” Josh said. “And you wanted to stop talking like a bunch of women, so let’s move this stuff in. Then talk to Brina about dinner tonight. It’s not like you can do any cooking here.”

  “True. I’m sure she’d love to. She’s more outgoing than I am.”

  “Yet I bet you get along just fine.”

  “Yeah, we do.”

  “So you’ll have a plus one at our wedding?” Josh asked.

  “I’m thinking I might,” he said. Though he was a groomsman in Josh’s wedding so maybe it wouldn’t be a good thing.

  20

  More Complicated

  “Are you sure you’re okay going to dinner with Josh and Ruby?” Nathan asked Brina when she showed up an hour later.

  She’d gotten his house all swept, the floors mopped, and the dust and any dirt wiped out of the sinks. She put the cleaning stuff in her car along with anything else that might have been lying around.

  “I’m good around people. I’m around them all day long, every day. Are you okay with it?”

  She was starting to think maybe he had a problem with it but didn’t want to tell his friend no.

  “I’m okay. I didn’t want to put you on the spot. I know Josh and Ruby and you don’t.”

  “I’ve met Josh twice now and he seems like a nice guy. I’m sure his fiancée is too.”

  “She is,” he said. “Just hang them up any way you want. I don’t care.”

  “I care,” she said, looking at his clothes. “If you want me to hang them up don’t get mad at me if I put them in some order.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll just move them around if I don’t like it.”

  “And I won’t get offended either.”

  Josh had just left. Everything that was supposed to come into the house was in, the rest in the garage. Nathan was putting his bed frame together while Brina decided to hang up his clothes that were lying on the floor.

  “That’s good to know,” he said.

  “Do you know how you want to set this room up?” she asked.

  “I always have my bed facing the door.”

  “Is that a law enforcement thing?”

  “No clue what other people do, but I want to be facing the door but not in the line of the door. I want to be able to get my gun fast if I need it too.”

  Which was why the bed was off to the right of the door, but still facing it and his little table that she knew his gun was kept in was next to it.

  “Do you have nightmares from your time in the Army?” she asked. They’d never talked much about it. He didn’t bring it up often, but he acted like it wasn’t that big of a deal.

  “Nah,” he said. “Yeah, I saw things that most people wouldn’t want to see, but I can’t say it was a horrible experience. I didn’t lose any close friends like many do. I didn’t get hurt. I will say I worked my ass off. I did without a lot. I didn’t have too many close friends then either, but it’s not like I had time for it.”

  Which was sad when he said that. “Did you keep in touch with your father and brother during that time?”

  “Of course. They were good about things. They were always sending me packages.”

  “How about your mother?” she asked.

  “Nope,” he said. “She could have cared less. She moved on with whatever guy she was screwing. I suppose it had more to do with the fact she and I had some nasty words before I left.”

  Brina realized she shouldn’t have brought this up. She didn’t know why it felt like the past twenty-four hours they were having these serious conversations and she had no one to blame but herself.

  “I shouldn’t pry,” she said, picking up his clothes by the hangers and walking into his closet. This was a dream closet and he didn’t have nearly a fraction of the clothes needed to fill it. She could fill it in a heartbeat though.

  What the hell was she doing thinking of that?

  When she came back out to get another handful of clothes, he’d moved over to the other side of the bed with his power drill. He was moving fast and not saying a word, telling her that she needed to drop the subject.

  “Will I have time to go home and change before dinner?” she asked. She was in shorts and a T-shirt and she was pretty sweaty on top of it. She knew she’d need a shower.

  “Yeah. I can pick you up there and we can meet them wherever they want to go.”

  “That works. I was thinking we could shower together if you wanted.”

  “I like the way you think,” he said. “If you had a change of clothes here you wouldn’t need to go home to change.”

  “That would be nice, but I don’t,” she said. “Well, I’ve got the clothes from yesterday but they are dirty.”

  “You could wash them and wear them again,” he said. “I need to do a load of laundry too.”

  “I almost think you don’t want me to leave.”

  “I’d like you to stay the night again, but...no clothes, huh?”

  “It’s just shy of noon. I can run out and get us some lunch and grab some clothes to change into and then have more for tomorrow.”

  “You could do that,” he said. “If you want to.”

  She wished he’d make up his mind. “You brought it up.”

  “You bring it up a lot on your own.”

  She looked at him trying to figure out what he was saying and then caught the smirk on his lips. “Did you just crack a joke, Nathan?”

  “I did.”

  “I like this side of you,” she said.

  “I like this side of me too. Guess you bring it out.”

  Just fun, she tried to remind herself, only she knew she might be lying to herself.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Ruby said to Brina when they walked into the restaurant around five. It wasn’t that busy, as it was still early for most, but Nathan was beat and was glad for the early night.

  This past month he’d been busting his ass more than ever. Work was always long but having to get the house ready to live in had made his life more complicated.

  He’d found it was much easier to work on the house while he lived in it than driving back and forth.

  Now he wouldn’t even feel so guilty about the time he’d had to push off meeting or seeing Brina either. They could still get together at his house now after he was done working. It’d be easier to fit it all in.

  And when was the last time he even worried about that? Probably never.

  “You too,” Brina said. “Nathan said you’re a realtor.”

  “I am. I’ve sold a lot of houses in Paradise Place. I never thought I’d be living there myself but am thrilled to be.”

  “Sometimes I wonder if that is why she agreed to marry me. So she could live in my house,” Josh said.

  “It is a pretty sweet house,” Nathan said. “Josh did a lot of work in his house too.”

  “Are you a flipper too?” Brina asked.

  “No. My grandfather worked in construction and taught me everything I know. I don’t do nearly the things Nathan does.”

  “You did a good job on it,” he said. Josh was just being modest.

  “It’s amazing what new floors and fresh paint can do for any room,” Ruby said. “Trust me, I’ve sold a lot of houses that would go faster if people just freshened things up first.”

  “I wish I could do some things to my place, but they don’t want us changing much. We can paint, but if we move out it all has to go back to white. I figured it wasn’t worth my time to do much more than a few rooms. The place is pretty plain.”

  “It’s hardly plain,” he said. “It’s got a lot of character.”

  “That is my decor around it. It works for me. I don’t plan on living there forever, but it’s good for the time being. I do have to admit Paradise Place is a nice area. My cousin lives a few streets over from Nathan.”

  “Who’s that?” Ruby asked.

  “Blair McKay.”

  “I sold Blair her house,” Ruby said. “She owns The Healing Touch, correct? What she wanted more than anything was the land for her gardens and the massive garage in the back for her workshop.”

  “Yes, that’s her. She’s getting married in a month or so. Matter of fact, she met her fiancé in Paradise Place. He bought the house behind her.”

  “Imagine that,” Ruby said. “I listed the house but don’t remember who bought it and he had another realtor. We found love in Paradise Place too. I say it’s a magical place.”

  Ruby looked at Nathan and winked. He ignored her though. “Maybe you can use that as a pitch when you sell the next house there,” he said.

  “Maybe your house when it’s done,” Ruby said.

  “It’s going to be a while. I need to get the kitchen done and then slow down. I’ve never moved as fast as I have in the past month. I was starting to think I got in over my head, but the truth is, it was a good investment and I don’t regret doing it.”

  “I knew you’d love it,” Ruby said. “I’m glad I could find it for you.”

  A few hours later they were back at his place and sitting in the front living room. “Does it feel much like a home to you?” Brina asked. “Your first night here.”

  “And you’ll be spending it with me.”

  “I will be, won’t I?” she said. “Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “For asking me to stay.”

  “I’ve got a bigger bed than you,” he said. Her queen barely fit the two of them. He needed more room when he slept.

  “I couldn’t fit a king in my room even if I wanted to.”

  “Though the house isn’t done, it still feels enough like a home.” Which was saying a lot since nothing had felt like a home to him in years.

  “If it wasn’t so warm out, we could sit on your deck. You’ve got a nice-sized yard back there.”

  “Full of weeds,” he said not even wanting to consider tackling the outside this year more than mowing the lawn. He’d paid someone to do it for the past month and most likely would for the rest of the summer season. Time wasn’t his friend and if he could spend an hour on the inside instead of the outside he would.

  “Next year you can put some shrubs in. I don’t think you are a flower type of guy.”

  “Not really. I’ll figure it out next spring. I might hire someone to come and do it one day and save me the work. Nothing I want to think about now. The deck needs to be pressure washed and stained too. I’ll try to get to it before it snows,” he said, laughing.

  “I could do it,” she offered and then snuggled under his arm on the couch.

  “You are spending a lot of time offering to help me. I figured you’ve got a lot on your plate already.”

  “I do,” she said. “But I can’t work every minute of my life.”

  “You’ve got that wedding you’re planning.”

  “You don’t want to go, do you?” she asked, turning her head to look at him.

  “I didn’t bring it up for you to ask me. I know you’re in the wedding. You’ll be busy.”

  “I will be. Blair wanted me to ask you, but I figured you wouldn’t want to go because you won’t know anyone.”

  “You made a comment about not always working. I just mentioned you had more going on.”

  “But if I asked, would you go?” she asked.

  He couldn’t tell if she really wanted him there or not and wasn’t sure how to answer. “If you want me there and I’m not working, then I’ll go.”

  “See, I didn’t even think of that.”

  She didn’t say anything else, so he let it drop. He picked up the remote and started to channel surf.

  Twenty minutes later she said, “October third.”

  “What?”

  “That’s the date of the wedding.”

  “Are you asking me to go?” he asked.

  “I think I might be even though I said you wouldn’t have fun, so I’m not sure why I’m still asking you.”

  He laughed. “Because you want to see me dressed up and you want me to see you looking hot too.”

  “There is that,” she said.

  He grabbed his phone from the coffee table and pulled up his calendar. “It so happens I end my rotation that Friday morning. I’m on nights then.”

  “Perfect,” she said. “If you want to go. I did notice you had one suit in your closet.”

  “Oh. I get it. You wanted to see if I had anything to wear first.”

  “Not as much as I’d like to see you in that suit.”

  “Then I’ll be there.”

  “Would it bother you to be seated with my parents? Everyone will be strangers, but that might be a bit easier. No, that’s wrong. I can’t do that to you.”

  “Wherever you want me,” he said.

  And he meant it. He’d go wherever she asked him to.

  21

  Black and White

  “How’s the research coming?” Carol asked Brina.

  It’d been almost three weeks since she was assigned the case with Carol. “AEA, also known as Accurate Employment Agency, isn’t so accurate with their files,” she said. “They bogged me down with enough things though. I’ve got a list of people to contact that have left their employment in the past two years. But since they are franchised across the East Coast there is more legal stuff to go through too.”

  “Not really,” Carol said. “Yes, they are part of a bigger system, but the Conroys own this branch and two more in the state. They are the ones we are going after. Whether they follow a structure or not means nothing if they broke laws.”

  “I know that,” Brina said. “But they are sending over bi-laws and regulations that they need to follow with the franchise and that is slowing me as I read them and then go through New York State laws to see what applies, what I can toss, and what I can focus on. Ignorance of the law doesn’t make any of this right.”

  “No, it doesn’t. The Conroys saying they were following what was told to them means nothing to me. Their lawyers are staying quiet too. I’m sure they are going through a lot with the main headquarters. This could be a big publicity issue, which is why we are still digging up information.”

  Brina knew of this too. She hated giving over some of her other cases but focusing on this took precedence. She had been able to get all the work done on her clients’ apartments from the slumlord. Rodney Freeland got it done by the skin of his teeth and wasn’t so thrilled he was served with more papers for another building.